Day 4 (May 4th, 2001)
I leave London today and heads to York, which is I think the best preserved medieval city in the whole England. This is the city that New York in the US is named after. I took train from London's King's Cross station. The day is great and the scenery along the track is beautiful. Slow rolling hills green and patches of trees dots the landscape. Once in a while a cottage house appears with in view of the train, and the view is just as beautiful as I have seem in many story books and travel books/journals. I was told that those lands are mostly private properties, and trespassing these properties could land me in big trouble. There are stories of aggressively protective land owners pulling hunting rifles on backpackers...I hope that's just stories to scare off people for I believe British people are gentle folks.
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Walked from the train station to hostel first to put down my packs then I went to the York city. The old York is surrounded by a stone wall with four gates at each opposite corners. You can walk on top of the wall and have a pretty good view of the city inside and outside. I don't recall seeing any building taller than 3 stories. The one exception is the magnificent The Minster. It is a cathedral built and expanded over five different periods. A knowledgeable person can distinguish the different architectural styles. The Minster is famous for its painted glass windows, especially the Great East Window and the Great West Window. There are over 10,000 pieces of glass in each of these two windows. To give a sense of how big the windows are: the two windows are taken down during WWII, and putting them back after the war took a couple skilled workmen 12 years. They are giant puzzles.
York city center is preserved in its medieval form. The famous Shamble street is one of the best examples. Buildings on that street is very distinct: the second floor overhangs the first floor (there is no third floor). It is just like some macabre medieval street illustration in story books or evil town in a cartoon. The top-heavy houses seems to be caving in on you. Very unpleasant actually. There are also shops that sell many traditional stuffs and serve traditional foods. The whole inner city walk can be completed in an afternoon at an easy pace.
I felt a bit home sick today. Traveling alone is boring, although very free to do whatever I like. So, to cure myself, I had KFC chicken. :) Met a guy from the states back at the hostel. Had little chat and learned that he is attending law school at an Ivy league university. Seems like a very smart guy. There aren't a lot of people in the hostel that night. I think it's because it's early may, and York is still a bit chilly (still a nice and cool 10degree Celsius). A quiet hostel and a quiet 20 beds big bunk room....